Dust: An Elysian Tail Review – Beautiful Art And Enjoyable Combat

Dust: An Elysian Tail Review: Beautiful Art and Enjoyable Combat

Dust: An Elysian Tail
Xbox Live Arcade
Action/Platformer

Dust: An Elysian Tail is a side-scrolling action/platformer title available on the Xbox Live Arcade. Right from the get-go the game comes across rather differently with its style, though certainly lovely with art. The characters that you first meet are an odd bunch as well and it certainly remains that way as you progress through the game. Your main character, Dust, has forgotten his memories and sets off on a quest to rediscover what he has lost. Joining him on his quest is a flying “cat/squirrel thing” by the name of Fidget and she greets you throughout the game with a pretty annoying voice. However, she does have abilities that provide a great spectacle and powerful punch when combined with Dusts’ attacks.

Dust: An Elysian Tail – Over 10 Minutes of Gameplay Footage

The combat in the game is a lot of fun to use and control from basic power attacks to quicker and more maneuverable ones. Plus, as I said before you have the combined attacks that can be very effective and can impact multiple enemies at once. You’ll be able to learn new abilities as well that you can use in those combined attacks. The combat and visuals are by far the best features in the game, though it does have some nice melodies that come along with it as well. As you progress you will be able to level up Dust, making him stronger in the basic areas such as attack and defense. You’ll also be able to upgrade his gear to improve your attacking and defensive abilities. There are plenty of chests for you to find to gather more gear or you can simply just buy the gear you would like. The game is deep enough and it features plenty of side quests and additional gameplay options such as trial runs which are basically scored obstacle courses that feature online leaderboards.

Dust: An Elysian Tail – Cirelian Trail #2 – Leaderboard Top 15 Run

There is certainly enough to enjoy with this title in terms of gameplay and visual art, but the storyline just wasn’t clicking for me and nor could I get into the characters that well. They did grow on me eventually, but I was never too interested. The character interaction is a little more detailed than you would expect with conversation type and just the overall random comments that are made. It certainly builds personality for each character. As for the level design, it’s decent and has some enjoyable moments in a few areas in terms of interactions with the playing field that can lead to some enjoyable platforming. Still, it’s the combat that makes this game worth playing. If you enjoy a good action/platform title then this is certainly worth checking out, if only for the gameplay and visuals. It certainly has enough depth and random things for you to do to get your worth out of the game – Plus, a good amount on the leaderboards for you to challenge.

Score: 8/10

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